Winding machines of the above-described type are known and can have electric motors connected to the winding-tube holders of the levers or arms to enable these holders to be driven and thereby cause the web to be wound up in a roll on the winding tube, sleeve or core between the two arms. The drive connection is provided between each motor and the respective holder.
In the past it has been the practice to provide, on the side of each lever or arm opposite that upon which the roll is to be wound up, a pancake or disk-shaped motor which was connected by the transmission or drive, for example, a belt drive, to the holder of the respective lever. A motor could be provided for the holder of the other arm of the respective pair as well if greater torque was required for driving the roll when, for example, larger rolls were to be produced or the width of the roll is substantial.
While pancake motors are relatively flat, when the width of the web to be wound up is comparatively small and the arms must be brought close together, the motors limit the ability to position the arms to enable suitably small widths of web to be wound up. For example, it may be necessary to eliminate one motor from each pair of arms, thereby reducing the torque available, especially if the narrow width roll is to be fabricated with a large diameter.
The alternative is to increase the driving capacity of the remaining motor and the increased driving capacity may result in overdimensioning of the drive for other applications.
From European patent 0 097 730, the matching of the drive to particular requirements is taught in that each support lever or arm can be provided with one or more drive motors. For example, in this fashion, it is possible to drive the winding-tube holders of a pair of drive levers with a respective number of drive motors, for example a total of four drive motors.
For a given winding shaft or station, therefore, the winding torque can be varied in a ratio of 1:4 as need arises. This type of arrangement is not only expensive since additional motors and coupling elements and transmission elements are required, but additional maintenance efforts are necessary as well.